Sid Meier's Pirates! Walkthrough :

This walkthrough for Sid Meier's Pirates! [PC] has been posted at 09 Aug 2010 by kjh and is called "Sid Meier's Pirates! FAQ 2". If walkthrough is usable don't forgot thumbs up kjh and share this with your freinds. And most important we have 2 other walkthroughs for Sid Meier's Pirates!, read them all!

Walkthrough - Sid Meier's Pirates! FAQ 2

Page 1

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
= SID MEIER'S PIRATES =
* LIVE THE LIFE *
= PC VERSION =
* FAQ / STRATEGY GUIDE *
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Author: Sashanan
Date: 12 May 2008
Version: 1.5
DISCLAIMER
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2005-2008. All
rights reserved. (Arr.)
You are granted permission to make copies of this FAQ (electronical or
physical) for your own, personal use. Furthermore, non-commercial, freely
accessible websites are allowed to upload a copy of this FAQ as long as it is
posted in its full, original form (including this disclaimer) and credited
to Sashanan.
You are not authorized to upload this FAQ on a commercial website and/or
charge for its viewing, or make money off it in any other imaginable way,
without my explicit written permission. Furthermore, you are not allowed to
edit this guide in any way, use it as a basis for your own guide, or post it
without giving proper credit. This is considered plagiarism.
This FAQ is protected by international copyright laws and failure to
comply with the terms in this disclaimer will result in legal prosecution.
===============================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============================================================================
[1] Introduction
[2] Overview
[3] Character creation
[4] Strategies
[4.1] Crew and recruiting
[4.2] Crew happiness
[4.3] Gold and plunder
[4.4] Ranks and promotions
[4.5] Ships to use
[4.6] Overall strategy/walkthrough
[5] Minigames
[5.1] Naval battles
[5.2] Fencing
[5.3] Land battles
[5.4] Dancing
[5.5] Sneaking
[6] Quests
[6.1] Criminals
[6.2] Named pirates
[6.3] Pirate treasures
[6.4] Lost family members
[6.5] Lost cities
[6.6] Marquis de la Montalban
[6.7] Romance
[6.8] Treasure Fleet
[7] Reference lists
[7.1] Ships
[7.2] Ship missions
[7.3] Ship upgrades
[7.4] Crew specialists
[7.5] Special items
[7.6] Ranks and benefits
[7.7] Fame points
[7.8] Retirement jobs
[7.9] Crew happiness calculation
[8] Frequently asked questions
[9] Miscellaneous
[9.1] Bugs
[9.2] Weird things
[9.3] Trivia
[10] Version comparisons
[10.1] New since Pirates and Pirates Gold
[10.2] XBox/PSP version differences
[11] Revision history
[12] Final words
===============================================================================
[1] INTRODUCTION
===============================================================================
Arr! Only one more arr in this document, promise. After the release of Pirates!
in 1987 and the subsequent appearance of Pirates Gold, it's been very quiet for
years. November 2004, however, brought a full remake of the game to the PC, all
updated to meet modern expectations in terms of graphics, and with the gameplay
fully redone as well. The concept is still the same: sail around the Caribbean,
plunder ships and ports, and retire a wealthy and high ranking privateer who
has saved as many of his missing family members as he can. That part hasn't
changed. Everything else has, though; the game centers around a set of fully
redone minigames, and to be successful at Sid Meier's Pirates, you'll need to
master them. Additionally, an overall strategy is still required to get the
most out of your pirating career.
Sid Meier's Pirates comes with a very good manual, and the purpose of this FAQ
is not to restate what's already in there. Consider this a hint book, rather,
meant to add to the information already in the game's documentation. This FAQ
is based on my own experiences and those of others I've discussed the game with
online, and has a twofold purpose: to inform you about the game's concepts in
more detail than the manual does, and to give you the advice you need to become
a superior pirate.
This FAQ was written with the PC version of Sid Meier's Pirates in mind, and
reflects the changes made in the v1.0.2 patch. The XBox and PSP versions of the
game, while very similar, have some differences; if you're playing either,
you'll find that not all the info in this guide applies to your version of the
game. I've noted what differences I know of between the versions in paragraph
10.2, but I don??????¬???t have access to these versions of the game myself.
I??????¬???ve had
to rely on information I've been able to find online or get from other players.
Veterans of either or both of the previous Pirates games - the original Sid
Meier's Pirates and Pirates Gold - may want to read paragraph 10.1 which gives
a quick overview of the differences between the new game and the old ones.
Although I consider this FAQ completed, future updates based on new insights or
useful reader input are not ruled out. The latest version of this guide
can always be found on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com), so be sure to check there
if you got this guide anywhere else. Might just be an updated version waiting
for you.
So, without further ado, on to the 17th century Caribbean!
===============================================================================
[2] OVERVIEW
===============================================================================
When you are still a boy, your family is enslaved by the evil Marquis de la
Montalban, and only you manage to escape. Ten years later, now a lad of 18, you
decide to set sail for the Caribbean to try your luck there, and hopefully find
a trace of your family and get your revenge on the evil Marquis while you're at
it.
Every game of Sid Meier's Pirates starts with the creation of a pirate. Except
for the very first game after installation, where you only enter a name and all
the other options are preset to the easiest available, as a tutorial of sorts.
You also choose a starting nationality by signing up with any of the four
captains. Your choice between the Dutch, English, French and Spanish has some
consequences on your starting position, but you are in no way required to stay
with the nation you decide to start with. You can work for or against anybody
you choose and change allegiances however much you want during your career.
Once you've chosen who to sign up with, a short scene describes your voyage to
the Caribbean, and how a mutiny on board eventually sees you as the ship's new
captain. As the game begins, you have one ship and a small crew under your
command, and you'll start outside a random port (usually one of some
consequence) of the nation you've chosen to start out with.
From there on, the game is completely in your hands. Where you sail and what
you do there is now up to you. Some of the activities you might engage in are
buying and selling goods, plundering and capturing ships, sacking towns, and
getting to work on a variety of quests including hunting down other famous
pirates, rescuing missing family members, finding treasure and lost cities,
and getting your revenge on the evil Marquis.
The majority of the game takes place sailing on the world map of the Caribbean,
and conducting your business in ports. Apart from that, most activities are
structured as a minigame of sorts, which includes naval battles, land battles,
swordfighting, dancing, and sneaking in/out of hostile ports. All these
activities are described in detail in this FAQ.
Version 1.4 of this guide introduced a section on overall game strategy,
containing my thoughts on how to best get to the maximum fame score of 126.
This being an open-ended game, there are, of course, many other ways to get
there. You'll find the new information in paragraph 4.6.
===============================================================================
[3] CHARACTER CREATION
===============================================================================
Except for your very first game session, every game requires you to select
various options before you begin. Specifically, you must choose a name, a
difficulty level, a special skill, an era and a starting nationality. The last
two also determine your starting ship.
----
NAME
----
This is purely cosmetic, so pick whatever has your fancy. My only advice here
is to remember that if you name yourself Jack Sparrow, you are not the first
player to do so. You might also want to steer clear from naming yourself
Blackbeard, as there already *is* a Blackbeard among the other pirates in the
game. Otherwise, your name (obviously) has no effect on gameplay, so if you
want to go into history as Duke Bob the privateer, nobody's stopping you.
----------------
DIFFICULTY LEVEL
----------------
There are five difficulty levels in Sid Meier's Pirates, and they affect many
different factors. As such, the difference between the levels is quite
significant, to the point where the first one is very easy (at least once you
get used to the game), and the highest is almost sadistic. I strongly
recommend starting low (especially if this is your first Pirates game) and
going up once you grow more confident. The following aspects of the game are
affected by the difficulty level chosen:
- Apprentice level has a lot of tutorial messages and visual hints during
minigames that you don't get on any other levels. This goes as far as governors
offering you a free training session with their swordmaster if you lose a sword
fight on this level.
- Enemies, on the whole, strike more quickly in sword fights on higher levels.
It varies per enemy and depends on the advantage bar as well, but in general
you can expect harder fights on higher levels.
- Enemy AI in naval battles improves on higher levels, and the enemy is capable
of quicker turns and sailing. You'll find enemies circle or escape you much
more easily on higher levels. In addition, on Apprentice, the top speed of your
ship is two knots higher than its normal maximum; on Journeyman, one knot. On
Adventurer both you and the enemy are limited by the normal max speeds for your
ships, and on Rogue and Swashbuckler they get the advantage by one or two
knots. This seriously impacts your ability to catch smaller ships on the
highest levels as they can reach impossible speeds.
- The damage dealt by your cannons and those of the enemy is dependent on
level. On lower levels, you'll do a lot of damage while enemy cannons barely
faze you. On higher levels, it will be the other way around.
- Your crew will remain happy for longer on lower levels (see paragraph 4.2).
- You require less map pieces for the various map quests on lower levels. Often
you will receive several at once instead of one corner at a time.
- On higher levels, dance sequences contain more complex move combinations and
there are also more different music styles; some quicker, others having a
tricky rhythm.
- You tend to lose more crew in naval and land battles on higher levels,
making it harder to keep your crew at a decent size. On the highest levels,
there's a real risk of running out of recruits in friendly ports, especially
when starting out.
- The camera zooms in farther on your party during treasure hunting sequences
on higher levels, giving you less of an overview of your surroundings. You'll
need to get closer to landmarks or your target before you can see them.
- Guards are more numerous during sneaking sequences on higher levels, making
it harder to remain unseen. The size of the town garrison appears to be a
factor in this as well.
- Nations are much more forgiving to pirates on lower levels. The higher the
level, the more likely you are to get a reward on your head and pirate hunters
after you if you attack a nation's shipping or towns.
- Opposition on miniquests (such as escorting a new governor) is stiffer on
higher levels. On lower levels, a single privateer is spawned to thwart you,
but on higher levels, it??????¬???ll be two and on Swashbuckler, three.
- The wind is less predictable on higher levels, and harder to sail against.
On Apprentice, the wind is *always* straight west. On higher levels, it changes
much more, though it will still tend toward west.
- On higher levels, information on towns on your map does not stay up to date
as long.
- On the lowest levels, when you start the game, an enemy trade ship will spawn
just outside of the first port after you talk to the governor, for an easy
first target. On higher levels, the governor will instead let you know that
he's sending a warship to blockade an enemy port, and suggest you tag along to
bag a few prizes.
There are also two advantages to selecting a higher level (apart from making
the game more challenging):
- Your share in the loot when you divide up the plunder is directly based on
the difficulty level, allowing you to get much richer if you're successful on
higher levels. Share is as follows:
LEVEL SHARE SIZE
Apprentice 5%
Journeyman 10%
Adventurer 20%
Rogue 30%
Swashbuckler 50%
- If you play on Apprentice, you are not allowed to select a different era than
1660 (which is, incidentally, the easiest one).
The transition from Rogue to Swashbuckler level in particular is a difficult
one. At this point, smaller ships become particularly hard to catch because
their speed bonus and your penalty now put you 4 knots apart, hard to
compensate for. More importantly, at this point rapier-armed enemies in sword
battles may become impossibly fast if the advantage bar swings their way.
-------------
SPECIAL SKILL
-------------
You can choose one of five special skills when you start the game. Each offers
an advantage in a specific area. You can use this to tone down the difficulty
somewhat in an area you have trouble with; for instance, if you like the
Adventurer difficulty level but find that swordfighting becomes too hard for
your taste there, you can compensate that by picking the Fencing skill. Which
skill is the best to pick depends on your playing style; they're fairly well
balanced. Your options are:
FENCING
Makes your character quicker in sword fights, both on the attack and the
defense. All moves can be pulled off quicker. This skill also appears to
improve the chance that dodging at just the right moment makes your character
counterattack automatically. This is a solid choice because you will probably
do more swordfighting than anything else. Especially on the higher levels this
might be your best bet, especially once your character's swordplay slows down
because of old age. On Swashbuckler level, I go with this one without question.
NAVIGATION
Makes your ships move quicker both on the world map and in battle, which is
especially useful when sailing against the wind. You'll find this a good
choice if you get annoyed by the long time it takes to sail from west to east,
or if you get outmaneuvered during battle a lot. Navigation skill basically
makes the game more forgiving in these areas, allowing you to focus on the
action. It is my personal favorite for most levels as I hate having to crawl
back to the east, but on Swashbuckler I cannot go without fencing skill.
GUNNERY
Lets your crew load their guns more quickly and makes the game more forgiving
in terms of accuracy. Since hitting enemies on higher levels can be tricky,
Gunnery skill can make the difference there. This one's not particularly
popular since many people prefer not to fire on enemies too much to keep their
ships intact. But don't discard it too quickly; it also makes the difference
when using different types of ammo that don't harm ships so much, and having
the ability to get off good Grape Shots can be very important on higher levels.
WIT AND CHARM
This skill makes the dancing minigame a lot more forgiving, and since most
players consider that the hardest part of the game, that is a very important
consideration. Like the dancing items, this skill gives you a set percentage
to avoid stumbling when you input an incorrect move. It does not appear to
protect you if you fail to input a move at all (which the dancing items do).
While the scope of this skill is limited, it does make a difficult but very
rewarding (in terms of items and information) minigame considerably easier. As
such, you may find Wit and Charm every bit as useful as the more direct special
skills.
Additionally, Wit and Charm has been reported to lower the minimum rank
requirements for getting invited to the ball by an attractive or beautiful
governor??????¬???s daughter (normally Colonel and Baron respectively). I
haven??????¬???t been
able to confirm this yet.
MEDICINE
If you feel you don't really need any of the skills above, Medicine will prove
useful. It basically extends the health of your pirate, allowing you longer
careers before your health gets in the way of your ability to fight properly.
You'll be able to start new expeditions for longer, and hold off the ill
effects of age for longer as well. The difference is significant but not earth
shattering; expect to get about 4 more years out of your pirate.
------------
STARTING ERA
------------
Except on the Apprentice level, you can pick five different eras to start
your career in. The era you choose affects the balance of power between the
nations and the relative wealth of each. Generally speaking, the effect is
like this:
- In earlier eras, Spain is much more powerful and the other nations only have
a few small colonies. In later eras, the other nations become more powerful at
the expense of Spain. In 1660, all nations have a few viable ports, and in
1680 Spain is only a little more powerful than the rest.
- The overall wealth of all ports increases in later eras. In 1680, all nations
(not just Spain) have a lot of wealthy ports and ships full of gold sailing
around. On the other hand, Spain is richer in the earlier eras; you can
definitely become a very rich man in the 1600s, but you won't have nearly as
many ports to run off to for repairs (and you likely won't have any good places
to sell off captured cargo).
- In earlier eras, nations have less resources at their disposal to ward off
piracy. There's less to be plundered, but it's also not as well protected. As
time goes by, piracy is taken more seriously and nations work harder to
prevent it. In 1680, pirate hunters are as common as pirates and any attempt
to make off with the great wealth of just about any nation will result in harsh
retribution.
For the most part, 1660 is the most balanced and easiest era. It's the default
era for a reason, and if you play on Apprentice you can't even choose a
different one. Picking different eras makes for a slightly different and more
challenging experience. 1680 is of special interest to players who'd like to
work *for* Spain instead of against it for a change; it's the only era in
which the other nations have almost as much to plunder. Just be aware that
you'll face a lot more resistance than usual.
-----------
NATIONALITY
-----------
What nation you work for and who you pick as your enemies can affect your game
quite a bit. However, your starting nationality has very little impact on this.
You don't have to keep working for whoever you start out with; you don't even
have to work for them at all. You can betray them right away if you so choose,
regain their trust a year later and then betray them again. In that sense, what
nationality you pick to start with is mostly a cosmetic choice. It affects the
following:
- You always start out near a port of some significance belonging to the nation
you signed up with.
- You get a ship based on the nationality and era you chose. In 1660, this is
always a Sloop, but in the other eras your starting ship changes depending on
the nation you choose. Check just below in the 'starting ship' subsection for
the whole list.
- The nation you start out with gives you a free Letter of Marque when you
visit a governor for the first time (though on Apprentice level, they all do
this).
Regardless of which nation you start out with, the following is of note when
working for specific nations (assuming the 1660 era):
DUTCH
Ports of call aren't very widespread if you side with the Dutch. You've got
St. Martin and St. Eustatius next to each other in the east, and Curacao as a
lone haven (quite a wealthy one, even) on the Spanish Main. The English and
French don't have any ports near the Spanish Main, so Curacao is actually an
important advantage. If you decide to side with the Dutch, you might find it a
good idea to stay friendly with either the English or the French as well, or
capture some more home ports for when you're a long way from both St. Eustatius
and Curacao. Port Royale is a good place to have on your side, one way or
another.
ENGLISH
The English have their ports spread out pretty well, so they're easy to work
for. The only place where you won't find any refuge is on the Spanish Main, so
if you do your plundering there, you may find it beneficial to keep the Dutch
on your good side so you can flee to Curacao when necessary. Or you could just
try to take over a few of those easier to capture ports like Rio de La Hacha
and Gibraltar. One disadvantage of the English is that Barbados, the best place
to sell goods for high prices, is somewhat remote. But Port Royale is nice and
central, there's a bunch of ports huddled together on the east side of the map
(perfect for recruiting) and a few desolate havens in the far north.
FRENCH
Like the English, they have a good presence in different parts of the
Caribbean. No less than four ports are available just to the east of Jamaica
(where Port Royale is), and south of the Dutch and English presence in the east
you'll find three
French ports in a row. To the north, Florida Keys is nicely situated for raids
on Havana and further west. The Spanish Main itself, however, has no French
ports anywhere near it. Once again, you'll find it useful to either befriend
the Dutch and sail from Curacao, or capture a smaller port or two for your own
use.
SPANISH
Working for the Spanish appears counterintuitive at first, because that means
the best targets are not available for you. However, there are advantages: all
those wealthy ports will buy the goods you steal from the other nations off you
for very high prices, and wherever you are sailing, there's almost always a
good sized Spanish port nearby to replenish your crew and get your ships
repaired. Just how viable working for the Spanish is depends on the era you
chose; in 1600, there's not much to attack that isn't Spanish, but in 1680
there is plenty for you to prey on, and you can easily afford to be hunted by
all other nations at the same time. The one thing you might want to refrain
from is to take over other nations' ports and give them to the Spanish, lest
you run yourself out of targets. A favorite approach of mine is to leave
working for Spain (to achieve Duke rank with them) for last, and win their
favour mostly by recapturing ports I took from them earlier in the game.
-------------
STARTING SHIP
-------------
This is not something you get to choose directly. However, what ship you start
with is determined by the era and nationality you chose. In 1660, the default
era, you get a Sloop no matter who you sail for, but in the other eras there's
quite a different selection. This alone may be a reason for you to pick a
nationality that starts with a proper ship. For instance, if you decide to play
a 1600 game, you probably don't want to be Dutch, unless the idea of capturing
a proper ship with only a lousy Fluyt at your disposal sounds like a fun
challenge. I've included a 'suitability' column for a quick idea of which ships
are viable for piracy and which aren't.
Starting ships based on era and nationality are as follows:
ERA NATIONALITY STARTING SHIP SUITABILITY
1600 Dutch Fluyt very low (1)
1600 English Merchantman medium
1600 French Sloop high
1600 Spanish Pinnace medium
1620 Dutch Brig very high (2)
1620 English Brigantine high
1620 French Barque low
1620 Spanish Pinnace medium
1640 Dutch Brigantine high
1640 English Sloop high
1640 French Pinnace medium
1640 Spanish Mail Runner very high (3)
1660 Dutch Sloop high
1660 English Sloop high
1660 French Sloop high
1660 Spanish Sloop high
1680 Dutch Sloop of War very high
1680 English Sloop of War very high
1680 French Brigantine high
1680 Spanish Fast Galleon low (4)
1: there's something very sadistic about having to start with the single worst
ship in the game for piracy purposes. Capture something slightly better, but
easy to catch to start out with; a Merchantman, perhaps, preferably a
Brigantine. Then use that to get something even better. Trying to capture a
Sloop or something with the Fluyt is pointless unless you're playing on a low
level; you'll never catch it.
2: this is one of the best starting ships in the game. Brigs are very
powerful and well balanced.
3: excellent ship, but for experts only. Its strength comes from its awesome
speed and agility, but it can't carry a lot of crew or guns. You'll come to
appreciate this kind of ship as you get better at ship and sword combat, and
play the higher levels. Also, since the Mail Runner is one of the toughest
ships to find in the game, starting with one is a tempting offer indeed.
4: while the Fast Galleon is a combat ship, it's pretty slow, worth it only for
its high gun count and max crew. Neither of which you will have early in the
game, and its inability to catch smaller ships on high levels will likely
infuriate you. On Rogue or Swashbuckler, you'd need to capture a Merchantman or
something to have a shot at getting a Brig or a Sloop next.
===============================================================================
[4] STRATEGIES
===============================================================================
This section describes overall gameplay strategies, not specifically related
to any of the minigames. For those, refer to section 5.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[4.1] CREW AND RECRUITING
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Your crew is central to all your pirating efforts. They sail your ships and
fight your battles. The more crew you have under your command, the bigger the
targets you can face, and the more you can afford to lose.
This doesn't mean, though, that a bigger crew is always better. The more men
you have, the more food you need to stock to keep them fed, and the harder it
is to keep them happy. Unhappy crews appear to be lost more easily in combat,
and may even become mutinous if you don't tend to them soon. Keeping your crew
happy is mostly a matter of satisfying their greed, but there are a couple of
factors.
You start each game with 40 men, and the first thing you'll want to do is
recruit more. Since you always start just outside a friendly port, the best
thing to do is visit it and go to the tavern to pick up a few more men. After
that, for the rest of the game, your options are as follows:
- Recruiting from taverns. Can be done at any town and pirate haven; not at
settlements. When you've just done this at a specific town you can't do it
again for a while. How many men you can recruit is affected by the following
factors:
- your rank with the nation in question; Captains receive a bonus to
recruiting, and Barons receive an even bigger one.
- the wealth of the town (richer towns have more job opportunities and thus
less people looking for a captain to sail with).
- the size of the town (bigger towns yield more recruits).
- whether or not you have recruited here before recently (new recruits take
time to amass).
- the happiness of your current crew (you get less new recruits if your
crew morale is already low).
- your reputation for having profitable voyages. Basically, if this isn't
your first expedition in this game, the crew share of your past voyages
will apply a positive or negative bonus to all recruiting. I have no
details on this, but the manual mentions it and it does feel like it makes
a difference; I??????¬???m never short of recruits after having divided up a
good
amount of plunder once before.
- Recruiting from other ships. If you defeat an enemy ship and a lot of its
sailors survive, some of them might be willing to join you instead. The size
of your current crew and their happiness are also a factor in this. For the
most part, this method is less reliable; it's good to replace losses taken in
battle, but if you need to get more men you're generally better off finding
them on shore.
- Sailors picked up after they??????¬???ve been thrown overboard in battle by cannon
impacts. Such sailors are added directly to your crew for the duration of the
battle, but it seems like only half of them stay on afterward. The impact on
your game is usually negligible.
You have a maximum crew size determined by what ships you have. For instance,
say you have one Royal Sloop (max 125) and one Barque with the Triple Hammocks
upgrade (max 100, increased by 50% for Triple Hammocks, so 150). This lets you
have a maximum crew of 275. Contrary to what the manual states, you cannot go
over this. Excess crew is lost as you lose/sell ships, and any excess you
recruit is ignored. Losing crew this way is, by the way, painless. They do not
take any gold along.
Your crew is automatically divided among all your ships. Each ship has a
minimum crew requirement, which is higher for bigger ships and also goes up a
lot if a ship is damaged. After each ship you have has been assigned the
minimum number of men, the remainder fill up your flagship; these are the men
you'll use in ship battles. If you change your flagship, your crew is
immediately and automatically rearranged. If you capture extra ships, always
make sure to check how many men remain for your flagship. If you're in the
habit of badly damaging ships before you capture them, you may be surprised by
how many men have to be relegated to keeping them afloat. You do *not* want
to accidentally enter a difficult ship battle and then notice there's only 20
men on your flagship. Also, if you should ever have so many (damaged) ships and
so little crew that you cannot meet the minimum staffing on all your ships,
your fleet's speed is reduced. That's a good time to limp to the nearest port,
or if none are in sight, to let go of some of your most damaged prizes.
Crew can be lost in ship and land battles. However, not all the crew that goes
down in either battle is necessarily dead (or at least too injured to continue
sailing); some of them are only down for the duration of the battle. In land
battles, this is particularly noticeable. In ship battles, you only seem to get
wounded men back after the battle if you have a Surgeon. Surgeons,
incidentally, cut permanent casualties in half.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[4.2] CREW HAPPINESS
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
---------------------
DETERMINING HAPPINESS
---------------------
Recruiting a crew is one thing; keeping them happy is a different story
entirely. Crew happiness is one of the most complicated (and, unfortunately,
obscure) calculations in the game. Courtesy of Wes Atkinson, I can finally
provide the full formula on this - see the details in paragraph 7.9. I will
summarize the findings here.
Crew happiness is primarily a factor of three things:
- the size of your crew;
- the size of the loot in your holds;
- how long your current expedition has lasted.
Basically, your crew happiness is determined by the amount of gold in your
holds divided by the size of your crew. Plus the longer you have been at sea,
the more gold your crew expects to see for their trouble when you finally
divide up the plunder. If your voyage is taking too long and you??????¬???re not
bringing in enough gold, your crew will become unhappy and eventually mutinous.
The share per crew member can, of course, be increased in two ways: either find
more gold, or reduce your crew size. Your crew doesn't care if you have 20000
gold to be divided up among 50 men, or 40000 among 100. It's the same to them.
Thus, losing crew in battle can boost happiness among the survivors as much as
plundering a fat target can.
Contrary to what I??????¬???ve stated in earlier versions of the guide, how much of
the
share goes to you as a captain does *not* factor into this. On Swashbuckler
level, half the loot goes to you, leaving a lot less to be divided among the
crew than on Apprentice. But the crew does not seem to realize this ??????¬???? what
matters is the amount of gold in your hold, not how much is shown as each crew
member??????¬???s individual share when you (prepare to) divide up the plunder.
Apart from this basic calculation, there are other factors that impact the
happiness of your crew. Having the Cook specialist, as does having the 3-
Stringed Fiddle or even the Concertina. The Quartermaster is likewise supposed
to boost morale, but does not actually seem to do anything. The other three
effects will basically make your crew more forgiving, and let you get away
with longer voyages (or bigger crews) without loot to match.
But with or without them, in the end it comes down to keeping your loot
growing, and the larger your crew, the more loot it takes. This is the primary
reason why you should not keep a bigger crew around than you need. If you're
only hitting small ships, don't take 500 men with you. That kind of crew is
only needed if you intend to take over large cities. For the most part, I find
around 200 men sufficient for expeditions that don't involve attacking well
defended towns. Plenty to win even tough ship battles. If you maintain multiple
ships, you may need a few more to keep enough men on your flagship.
As you get better at ship battles and the usually ensuing sword fights
afterwards, you may find you can make do with even smaller crews and make it
that much easier to stay at sea for a long time without mutiny. How small a
crew you can risk will depend on your own skill level and the difficulty level
you've chosen. My personal preference for sailing a sole Royal Sloop on the
highest difficulty levels caps my crew at 187 (with Triple Hammocks), which is
usually enough but makes land battles tricky, and also means I??????¬???ll have to
stop
for new recruits if I lose too many.
Since crew happiness becomes harder to maintain late in an expedition, you will
find it relatively easier to have a large crew during the early parts of a
voyage. If you have both city and ship attacks in mind, consider getting a
large crew quickly at the start of an expedition, plundering the fattest cities
in the Caribbean, then reducing your crew size and going after ships for a few
years before dividing up the plunder, after which you can repeat the cycle.
Crew reduction can be accomplished by deliberately losing men in battle, or by
selling so many ships that you're forced to leave some crew behind. Either
method gets rid of some crew while leaving the loot in your hold untouched.
You'll also need to make sure you keep your crew fed. If it's large, you will
need to take a lot of food along, which can get expensive and takes up a lot of
cargo space. A Cooper specialist helps keep food from spoiling, effectively
halving the rate at which it is consumed; thus you can get away with buying
less. Running out of food is no fun - your crew can go from full happiness to
full mutiny very quickly if you starve them. Don't let it happen. If you're
going on a long voyage with little food, restock at settlements and villages
along the way. If you are really running low on food, attack any ship you see
to plunder their food stores. If it actually belongs to a nation you are trying
to win the favour of, too bad. You can make it up with them later when your men
aren't hungry.
In the end, you'll find it harder and harder to keep your crew satisfied as
your expedition goes on. Usually, you will have to divide up the plunder
eventually, and start with a fresh crew if you intend to ever see them happy
again rather than bordering on mutiny. Dividing up the plunder has two
disadvantages:
1. You get to keep only one ship (so you'll have to sell off the rest, like it
or not);
2. You lose 7 months of game time starting your new expedition.
You also start with a small crew of 40 again, but if your last expedition was
profitable, you'll be able to recruit new men very quickly, so that's usually
not a big concern. You'll have it right back up to size by visiting just a few
ports. The real pain is if you used to rely on several ships. Perhaps you used
both a Royal Sloop and a Ship of the Line and switched depending on what you
were attacking. In that case, you'll now have to make a choice as one of the
ships has to go.
Most players prefer to stretch their expeditions for as long as possible to
minimize the downtime between expeditions. How far you can stretch is mostly
dependent on the difficulty level and, as mentioned before, the size of your
crew.
However, there is a cutoff point where, if your loot is especially big
compared to your crew size, your men will never become unhappy even if you
keep them at sea forever. This is due to the fact that after a certain amount
of time ??????¬???? varying per level but it??????¬???s roughly six and a half
years ??????¬???? the crew??????¬???s
gold demands stop increasing. After you get past this point, adding on 10, 20,
even 30 more years does not reduce your crew??????¬???s happiness further. So if you
gather enough gold per crew member to keep them happy (or, at least, anything
better than mutinous), you can sail forever.
The exact calculation for the cutoff is described in paragraph 7.9, but the
rule of thumb is 1000 gold per crew member to keep your crew from sinking below
??????¬??unhappy??????¬???, and thus never becoming mutinous. Likewise, roughly
2000 will fix
them at content and roughly 3000 at happy. The obvious problem with this is
that 3000 per crew member is a lot, requiring you to either have stacks and
stacks of gold in your holds, or to have a very small crew. 1000, however, can
realistically be done by going after the most profitable quests in the game,
like getting revenge on Montalban and finding the Lost Cities. Montalban alone
provides enough gold to keep a crew of 100 sailing forever ??????¬???? add all four of
the Lost Cities and you could do the same with 300.
To take advantage of the above, you'll have to get used to sailing with a small
crew. I wouldn't worry about doing this until you're an experienced player -
having to divide up the plunder isn't THAT bad. But once you're at the level
where you want to minimize your downtime as much as possible, or if you
frequently make use of different ship types that you don't want to give up,
it's something to keep in mind. I find that on the higher difficulty levels, I
usually end up having to divide the plunder once about 5 years in, then for the
second expedition I nail Montalban after about as many years and never see a
mutiny again.
-------------------------------
CONSEQUENCES OF AN UNHAPPY CREW
-------------------------------
Unfortunately, the manual isn't very clear on which aspects of the game are
affected by having an unhappy crew, and it's hard to tell in playing the game
exactly where happiness factors in. There's a few clear spots, but rumours fly
on forums about a host of other things it might or might not affect. Over time
I??????¬???ve come to believe that most of these are either untrue or have so little
impact that it??????¬???s hard to tell the difference. Nonetheless, I??????¬???ll
list the
suggested areas.
The following have been confirmed to be affected by crew happiness:
- If a crew becomes mutinous, some of them may abandon you while in port; they
do not appear to take any gold along if they do, though, so this is mostly
painless. However, if it has come to this, you'll find it hard to recruit new
crew anymore and should consider dividing up the plunder soon.
- At sea, only if you have more than one ship, mutinous crew may attempt to
depart with one of your other ships. If they do, they take more than their
fair share of cargo and gold along as well. You can, however, overtake and
recapture your mutineers to get your gold back. This kind of mutiny never
occurs on your flagship.
- If your current crew is unhappy with you, it becomes harder to get fresh
recruits. Eventually you may find it impossible to maintain a crew size you
can get anything done with.
- Unhappy crews are poorly motivated in ship battles, and will take noticeably
longer to reload your cannons, or raise and lower your sails. Crew morale is
also a factor in determining, during boardings, which side loses men every
couple of seconds. Unhappy crews get picked off far quicker during prolonged
battles.
The following have been *suggested* to be affected by crew morale, but I have
been unable to confirm them one way or the other (though they seem plausible
enough):
- Unhappy crews may perform poorly in land battles, although it must be noted
that the morale your units have within those battles is unaffected by crew
happiness. You'll never see units starting at 'angry' or worse even if your
crew is mutinous.
- Unhappy crews may cause your turning rate to drop in ship battles.
- Unhappy crews may cause your sailing speed to drop in and out of ship
battles.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[4.3] GOLD AND PLUNDER
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Although wealth only makes up a fifth of your final fame score, you'll likely
be pursuing gold as your main objective throughout the game anyway. If only
because that is what your crew is after, and if you don't keep gold pouring
into your holds, they will soon become unhappy. Some good ways to make gold
are:
----------------
PLUNDERING SHIPS
----------------
This is the most obvious one and probably what you'll spend most of your time
doing. Any ship you capture is likely to at least carry some gold which goes
directly into your hold, and possibly valuable cargo as well which you can sell
for gold later. How profitable this is depends a lot on the targets you are
striking. Bear the following in mind:
- Indian War Canoes bear either no or very little gold. Not worth it; only
attack these to win the approval of European nations. Warships of most kinds
also have little in the way of gold and goods, though there are exceptions. For
the most part, neither of these targets will be a good choice if it's gold you
are after, though both are advantageous for promotions (hunting Indians makes
you popular with all four nations, and warships will boost your reputation
quicker than trade vessels).
- Grain Transports usually have little gold, and only food on board. You can
safely ignore these if your crew is not close to starving and you're not
particularly interested in attacking ships of that specific nation for rank
purposes.
- Regular merchant ships (the ones without any special label on them) tend to
have a decent amount of gold and cargo, sometimes low value (goods/sugar),
sometimes high value (luxuries/spice). Loot varies a lot on the small ship
types (Trade Galleon/Merchantman/Fluyt), but if you see a bigger ship in one
of those classes, it's usually bigger for a reason. They tend to have a good
supply of gold and cargo. Also, if any merchant ship has an escort, that's a
clear sign it has something worth protecting on board. Escorted ships rarely
disappoint, but obviously you do have to deal with the escort. Occasionally
you may find that it's the escort that carries the bulk of the gold.
- Smugglers tend to have nice cargo (a small load of Luxuries or Spice) and a
little gold as well. In addition, smugglers have a higher than usual chance
of having specialists on board. As an extra bonus, they tend to be easy
targets; only the lucky ones sailing Brigantines pose some threat. The main
problem with smugglers comes into play only on Rogue and Swashbuckler levels,
where small ships like Pinnaces become increasingly hard to catch.
- Unnamed pirates are sometimes down on their luck and sometimes they had a
good run before you catch them. You can never be sure, but it's usually worth
it to go after them. If nothing else, it'll improve your reputation with all
four nations at once. They carry only gold and usually no decent goods.
- Ships carrying immigrants or transporting new governors tend to have a good
amount of gold; presumably the personal fortune of their passengers. Immigrant
ships have the added advantage that they have the best chance in the game of
carrying specialists. Both are fairly easy targets, too.
- Military payroll and treasure ships have good amounts of gold on board, easy
profit which doesn't require you to sell cargo first. Payroll ships tend to
have hard cash only; treasure ships often have a good load of Luxuries and
Spices in addition to it. The Treasure Fleet, if you can find it, consists of
several Treasure Galleons with a better amount of gold than normal, depending
on how far it was on its route when you grabbed it (see paragraph 6.8). Be
aware that both payroll carriers and treasure ships will usually be well
defended, so don't bite off more than you can chew. The Treasure Fleet is an
especially dangerous mark; if you attack one ship, you can expect a second
Treasure Galleon to jump in as an escort, both brandishing 30 guns. I??????¬???ve lost
more than one flagship in the crossfire.
- Named villains are always fat targets. Mendoza has 2000 gold, Raymondo 3000
and Montalban 5000, every time you capture their ship. If you spot one, take
them out immediately; but be wary, they're among the tougher targets.
- Named pirates have the best loot of all, especially the most famous ones.
Furthermore, their loot increases over the course of the game, as you get 10%
of what the Top 10 Pirates screen lists as the total amount of gold they??????¬???ve
plundered. I've heard of one lucky player who got no less than 70000 off Henry
Morgan's ship. More realistically, you can expect to get at least 12000 off
him, and up to 30000 if you capture him after 15 years or so in the game. Do
make sure you have what it takes to take these guys down, as the more notorious
pirates sail very powerful ships.
- If you frequently talk to barmaids, you will be dropped hints about nearby
ships with a lot of gold on board. This can be any ship that carries at least
700 gold; I've once been pointed to Raymondo's ship this way. Usually the ships
that get pointed out like this are payroll carriers or treasure ships, but
occasionally it's a completely random ship (I've even gotten 1200 gold off an
Indian War Canoe after a barmaid told me to grab it). Long story short, if you
get a hint about a fat target, check its route and see if you can easily go
after it. It is almost always worth doing, and sometimes you??????¬???ll be surprised
at
what kind of mundane ships secretly carry an enormous treasure.
- Barmaids can also put you on the track of the Spanish Treasure Fleet, or you
can easily run into it by accident considering it stops by most of the big
Spanish ports. It can be tricky to defeat as all ships in it are well armed
and have large crews, but it's profitable if you're up to the task. Between
the gold they carry and the valuable cargo (depending on which part of the
journey they're on), you can usually make a couple thousand gold off each
ship.
- It appears that the overall wealth of all ships belonging to a nation is
directly affected by the power level of said nation. Spain's ships, in
particular the larger merchant vessels and the payroll carriers, always seem
to be richer than English and French ones, and those in turn seem to be richer
than Dutch ones. However, if you capture ports for a certain nation and have
them become more powerful, their ships seem to gain slowly as well.
This also appears to cause a weird calculation bug in the unpatched version of